Himalayan glaciers disappear as world warms up

In the 1950s, the Swiss glaciologist Fritz Müller and Austrian scientist Erwin Schneider conducted among the first extensive studies of the Everest region in Nepal taking photographs of the glaciers, mountains and valleys. Fifty years later mountain geographer Alton Byers revisited the exact sites of the original photographs to take more than 40 replicates, many of which illustrate the dramatic effects of climate change in the world's largest mountain range. The photos are just a selection of those included in an exhibition Himalaya – Changing Landscapes on show at climate change talks in Bonn

By 2007, the Imja lake (above)had grown to around one kilometre long with an average depth of 42 metres, and contained more than 35m cubic metres of water. The Imja glacier is retreating at an average rate of 74 metres a year, and is thought to be the fastest retreating glacier in the Himalayas.